10 Vintage Motorcycle Ads That Will Make You Want to Buy a Bike Right Now

From the earliest days, a hint of sex has always helped sell motorcycles—not that they've needed much help, with those top-notes of speed and power and that freedom-of-the-road finish.

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Terrot

Like many motorcycle manufacturers, Charles Terrot started off making bicycles (and, later, quadricycles) in the late 19th century before designing and building motorcycles well into the 20th century. Today, vintage Terrot bicycles are often as valuable on the collectors' market as the motorcycles, while the company's posters ― like this dreamlike, strikingly colored example ― are recognized as embodiments of the genre.

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Norton

While "Built in the light of experience" might not be a tagline guaranteed to get the heart pounding, Norton bikes ― especially the 750cc and, later, the 850cc Commando ― are among the world's most recognizable and, let's face it, coolest motorcycles. This poster captures the brand's broad fan base, from weekend riders to hardcore, open-throttle diehards. Norton has been a major racing name for decades; in fact, its Manx racing model was a tribute to the Isle of Man, "Manx" being the native Celtic language of the island, as well as a catch-all term for all things Isle of Man-related.

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Isle of Man TT

Held on the Isle of Man for more than 110 years, the annual TT (Tourist Trophy) races ― featuring superbikes, lightweights, sidecars, and other classes ― are among the most prestigious competitions in the motorcycling world. The Isle itself has long been a motorbiking mecca, and the fact that the 220 square-mile speck in the Irish Sea has just 80,000 year-round residents; is a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve; and is the fifth richest nation in the world (by GDP per capita, per the World Bank) all help make it a fascinating and gobsmackingly gorgeous place.

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Brittania

While BSA remains one of the most famous motorcycle brands in the world (despite being effectively defunct since the 1970s), the Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited from which the bikes took their name was known for far more than just two-wheeled transportation. Buses, machine tools, firearms and other military gear ― for most of the 20th century, the BSA consortium was an industrial powerhouse in the English midlands. Along with Norton and Triumph, BSA defined two-wheeled British cool for generations of riders around the globe.

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Grand Prix

Designed by Ernst Ruprecht (1891-1954), this Weimar-era poster, advertising a Grand Prix race in Bern in the summer of 1931, captures so much of the sport's primal appeal: rider and machine melded into a single, seductive beast. But there is also more than a hint here of one of the most dynamic art movements of the early 20th century, Italian Futurism, and its celebration of machines, speed, and the promise of change.

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Favor

Favor started making bicycles in 1898, and by the early 1920s had designed and introduced its first motorcycle to the public: a 125cc two-stroke machine. The company ceased manufacturing motorcycles in the 1950s ― but not before it also released a number of stunning (and collectible) posters, like this beauty. The French phrase, "Va droit au but," translates as "to the point." But you knew that.

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Garabello

Even though the winged creature in this poster is clearly Pegasus, for contemporary viewers the image likely evokes both Ferrari's and Porsche's famous logos, with a prancing black horse on a warm yellow background. As far as the bikes themselves are concerned, Garabello Francesco built his first single-cylinder, 240cc motorcycle at his shop in Piedmont, Italy, in 1903, and by 1922 had a four-cylinder, water-cooled 984cc machine on the market.

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Matchless

What's perhaps most striking about this poster is how vital it feels 70 years after it was released. Despite the fact that the colors are, at first glance, rather drab, the contrast of subtle hues with the energy and movement of the bike and rider suggests that anyone, absolutely anyone, can experience this sort of thrill, every day. Matchless was a major player among British motorcycle manufacturers in the early 20th century, providing British armed forces with around 80,000 bikes during WWII alone.

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Triumph

An oddly grandiose, enjoyably trippy poster for one of the iconic names in motorcycles: Triumph. The company sold around 30,000 machines covering eight models in this particular year, 1929, all with the fashionable "saddle" tank. That company (Triumph Engineering) went under in the 1980s, but was resurrected as Triumph Motorcycles Ltd., which remains one of the world's premier builders of badass rides.

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